Maternal
by NerdyMama
Summary: Celes had never considered herself a maternal person.


_**None of the characters belong to me. Of course.**_

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Celes had never been the maternal sort. Even when she was younger, she felt no attachment nor burning desire to be around children. Perhaps that had been a result of how she had been raised; closed off, unable to trust and with a strong need to be by herself a lot. Perhaps the soldier in her never allowed herself to become attached. She would never have had the time for it anyway. As General, the last thing she needed to worry about was snot-faced, wailing children.

That had changed somewhat over the years. Not entirely, but enough. She supposed that all started when she met Locke. He'd been annoying, stubborn, persistent, perhaps a little bit sexist with his assumption that she'd needed protecting simply because she was a woman... but he was also quite _sweet_.

She hadn't known exactly when she developed feelings for him; it wasn't immediate. She had even told Edgar that she wasn't a love-starved twit, which was true; she wasn't. But somewhere along the road, she developed an attachment. That was probably the appropriate word, given that he still had feelings for his dead fiancée at the time and was committed to try and bring her back somehow. It was foolish to consider the possibility that she had fallen in love with him.

Yet that was exactly what had happened. As time went on, she realized she'd needed him, perhaps more than she'd ever have initially admitted to herself. She'd been there for him when his attempt to bring Rachel back from the dead hadn't gone as planned, and when the time came to face Kefka, she had fought at his side. It hadn't mattered if he didn't feel the same; just being close to him was good enough for her.

After the demonic clown had finally fallen, Locke had decided to return to Narshe to do some further treasure hunting in the mines. As for why he wanted to go there, Celes had no clue; it turned out he had wanted to see the area Umaro lived in and see if he held any valuables – he _had_ had some magicite before after all. _Treasure hunter, my ass._

He'd invited her along, of course. _That_ had been a surprise to her, though perhaps looking back now it shouldn't have been. She'd had nowhere else to go – the only other family she'd had was Cid, and he'd been cruelly taken from her – so she'd agreed. That was how they'd spent the next few years of their lives, traveling from location to location, while never really settling.

It was around three years post-Kefka that Locke had confided that his feelings toward her had changed. He'd been nervous, that much was certain – he had spoken to his feet during the entire monologue and had only chanced to look at her a handful of times for mere fleeting seconds. She had smiled, and without hesitation, kissed him.

They'd never looked back since. Two years after that, they'd married in a small, quiet ceremony surrounded by only their dearest friends. After that, they had set off on their travels once more, continuing life as if little had changed. A couple of years after, they decided to settle in South Figaro – it _had_ been where they had first met, after all. Locke had brought up the idea of having children together, but she'd simply shook her head at the time and told him she wasn't ready for that responsibility. Truthfully, she didn't think she would ever be ready.

She had still never really understood the desire for children. Not like Terra. She remembered even feeling frustrated at the green-haired woman when she had initially refused to leave them to assist in the war against Kefka. Celes didn't understand how she could develop such an attachment to them. Perhaps Terra had understood love better than she did after all. Even now, when the orphans she'd raised had all grown and left home, she had lunged into motherhood once more by marrying Edgar (how she'd managed to get him to focus on only one woman was still a mystery to Celes), delivering him a son, and was currently three months into her second pregnancy.

Perhaps it had been fear that had held her back for so long. Fear that with her history, with her personality and her lack of a maternal instinct that she would make a terrible mother. All she knew was that, nine months ago, she had forgotten to take her contraception brew, and she'd fallen pregnant.

It had been rough-going. Battling with the feelings of inadequacy inside of her, she'd put on a face of joy for much of the pregnancy, not wanted to bring down Locke's excitement – this was something he truly wanted after all. She'd confided in Terra instead, who assured her she'd make an excellent mother.

" _I didn't always know what to do either," the green-haired woman said, bouncing a one year old blonde boy on her knee, "I just followed my instinct. It nearly always worked out."_

" _But what if I cannot love it? I mean, I do worry for it, I want to make sure it comes out alive and well but -"_

" _Trust me," Terra had said, placing a gentle hand on top of her own, "You will. The fact that you're worrying about your baby now is a good sign. Just because we lived our lives the way we did, doesn't mean that we cannot love."_

That night, she'd broken down and cried in Locke's arms, finally confessing every worry that she'd had. He'd simply held her and assured her that everything would be okay.

It had been a few short months since that time, and finally, the babe arrived. Labour had not been the most pleasant experience, though she was sure that compared to every other torture – both physical and emotional – she had suffered in her life, that this was relatively minor in comparison. Still, she'd feared for her life and that of her child's. It would destroy Locke to see anything happen to either of them.

It was only when she'd heard that loud cry for the first time, and the midwife's shout of "It's a boy!", that she'd felt her heart leap. _My baby._ She glanced at Locke, who was hastily wiping tears from his eyes. _No. Our baby._

The midwife – a dark-haired young woman with kind eyes – gently placed the small being on her chest, and for the first time, Celes got a good look at what she had helped bring into this world. The child definitely had Locke's nose, but his eyes were a piercing blue. A tuft of hair stuck up, caked with blood and what looked like – goat's cheese? She wasn't quite sure what it was. All she knew was that her heart had never felt so full.

She pulled the baby closer to her chest, "Welcome to the world, Cid Cole."

"Hey, wait a moment!" Locke said, "Don't I have any say in what his name is?"

Celes turned to him, a wry smile on her face, "Well, given that I just spent the past twenty-four hours labouring, on top of the nine months he spent growing inside of me, I think I should get to at least name him, hmm?"

Locke made to argue, but quickly stopped – supposedly unable to come up with an appropriate argument – and pouted adorably, causing Celes to laugh, "But I'll let you name the next one."

"The next one?" he glanced up, hopefully.

"Yes, _if_ there is a next one. Now stop crying and come meet your son."

"I'm not crying!" Locke hastily wiped his eyes again, before taking the child into his arms. Smiling at him, Celes quietly grabbed a tissue from beside her and dabbed her own wet eyes. She made a mental note to write a letter to Terra later.

Celes may not necessarily consider herself to be maternal, but that didn't mean that she was incapable of loving this child nor that she wouldn't give everything she had – even the very breath from her body – to ensure her son had the very best life he could possibly have.

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 ** _-WRITER'S NOTE-_**

 _And that's that! I would like to do a sister piece to this at some point, focusing on Edgar and Terra (I love that ship so much) and perhaps some one-shots focusing on the two families' lives and the ah... challenges child-rearing can bring. Maybe. I don't know, I'll see what happens. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
